a yard in length, either basking in
the hollows or lazily wriggling their way between the hillocks. They
seemed to pay no attention whatever to the furry villagers; for a
rattler likes to make a huge meal when he's about it, and therefore
does not bother often about the, to him, rather laborious process of
dining. The villagers, on their part, also seemed to pay little
attention to the snakes; except that those who chanced to be foraging
on the coarse herbage which grew between the hillocks always got out of
the way with alacrity if a wriggling form approached, and not one of
the coiled baskers ever woke up and shifted its position but that a
hundred pairs of bright, innocent eyes would be fixed upon it until its
intentions became quite clear.

"The Little Villager, who had just come out of his burrow, sat straight
up on his hind-quarters, on the top of his hillock, with his forepaws
hanging meekly over his breast, and glared all about him to see if any
danger was in sight. The big rattler beside the door of the next
hillock underwent his careful scrutiny, which convinced him that the
reptile had recently made a good meal, and would not be dangerous until
he had slept it off. Then he glanced skyward. A great hawk was
winging its way up from the southern horizon, almost invisible in the
strong, direct glare, but the Little Villager's keen eyes detected it.
He barked a warning, and the sharp signal went around from hillock to
hillock; and in half a minute all the big, babyish eyes were fixed upon
the approach of the skying marauder. Everybody chattered about it
shrilly till the hawk was straight over the village. Then suddenly the
noise was hushed. The great bird half folded its wings and swooped,
the air making a hissing hum in its rigid pinion tips. The swoop was
lightning swift, but even swifter was the disappearance of the Little
Villager, and of all his neighbors for fifty feet about him. Before
the hawk reached earth they had dropped into their burrows.

"Checking himself abruptly, the hawk flew on over the tops of the
hillocks, making unexpected zigzag rushes to right and left. But
wherever he went, there the villagers had vanished, almost as if the
wind of his approach had whisked them away. Baffled and indignant, he
at last gave up the hope of a dinner of prairie dog, and dropped on a
small rattler which was too sluggish from overeating to have noticed
that there was any particular excitement in the